His favourite song is “Burn”, but 19-year-old Sam Chapman has more chance of freezing as he waits for Ellie Goulding’s Christchurch concert Thursday.
Standing alone, cold, and wet outside the concert venue since 9am, the American teenager has travelled over 19,000 kilometres to follow his idol to Christchurch.
It’ll be the sixth time in five months that Sam has seen the English pop star, after gigs in the US and Canada.
He plans to head to Auckland and then Australia to attend more concerts.
Despite his dedication, Sam’s only been a fan for little over a year.
“I just stumbled on her music, decided to see her live when she came close and it snowballed to me travelling across the world to see her. I’ve been a fan of other bands, but I’ve never been old enough to travel this much.”
When he arrived this morning, he didn’t think he’d be at the front of the queue.
“This is the first time I’ve been first. Usually there’s people here before me, so I’ve just been alone so far.”
He saved over $4000 from his part-time grocery store job to fund his travels.
His reasons for choosing Ellie are simple.
“She sings well, she’s got good songs – she seems like a nice person.”
His only entertainment for his 10 hours in the queue is his phone: games and texting friends back home. It’s a tough wait for the Californian. “My hands are numbing, it makes it hard to use my phone.”
The doors are scheduled to open at Horncastle Arena at 7pm Thursday. For Sam, it’s just a waiting game now.
By UC Journalism for The Press
